IronGAINS Fitness Tracking: Outstanding Workout App Review
Fitness is an essential part of my life. For me it’s more than the physical aspect of building muscle and taking care of my health. Working out is my therapy. I have clarity and do my best thinking when pushing weight around. It is the only time I feel that I truly have to myself each day. A few years ago I stumbled across the ironGAINS fitness tracking app, and it took my workouts to a new level.
When I decided it was time to let go of the tried and true methodology of tracking workouts through pen and paper, I had a difficult time navigating through the myriad of fitness tracking app options. I found a solution through ironGAINS that works for me. Converging my love of fitness and writing, I decided to write this review for others. I hope it helps someone out there!
Peace Derived
My mind is most at ease while I am physically exerting myself. It seems counterintuitive as lifting weights does require a high level of focus and attention as to not injure yourself while training, but it is a fact that has held true since I began working out long ago. Musings aside, I am a morning guy and believe whole heartedly there is no better way to start my day than with a good work out.
My Home Gym
One of the best things I unwittingly did for myself over the past few years is build a home gym. The desire to do so was predicated on efficiency. Optimizing time management and a personal disdain of public gym locker rooms. My home gym started with a small power rack and a few plates in my garage. It has graduated to consuming a spare bedroom in my home with a wide variety of exercise options.
When I’m working out I always have music streaming through noise canceling headphones as to not wake up the rest of the house. I periodically check my Fitbit to ensure my heartrate is where I want it to be. My longtime fitness tracking app ironGAINS is open on my phone so I can keep tally on my progress. IronGAINS is a fitness tracking app that I stumbled across a few years ago. I was looking to stop tracking progress by pen and paper. I wanted to begin tracking virtually and ironGAINS was the product I found works best for me.
ironGAINS Fitness Tracking
I tried several other similar apps before purchasing ironGAINS. The deciding factor was that I appreciated the one-time perpetual license. It was approximately $10 when purchased a few years back. Fundamentally I liked the look and feel of the user interface. Aesthetically I prefer the dark mode user experience as I can see the interface more cleanly and the entirety of the app was intuitive and user friendly. The app is extremely well designed and has an elegant look and feel to it.
As for the user experience itself, I track exercises, weight, and reps for each workout. In turn ironGAINS logs and compiles the data points for future reference. I try to follow a set schedule each week, represented by the following workout regiments I added in the app. The app is completely customizable. It allows you to add exercises that may not be preloaded although there is a large number of standard exercises already built into the interface.
Fitness Tracking Workouts
Retrieving the stored data is a cinch, as represented by the image below. Each date with a dot are days that I tracked my workout through the app. If I want to see what exercises I did and how much I lifted during a chest workout two years ago all I have to do is scroll back to that date and look.
Fitness Tracking Gains (And Losses)
While tracking a workout the app shows the reps and weight lifted during the previous iteration of performing that exercise. This is a highly beneficial reference point as you push toward gains. The image below is from my workout today (as I write this 6/20/2020). Once you complete your workout if you bested your previous time performing that exercise you’ll see a green arrow pointing up to the right of the set. If you break a personal record you’ll see a green star next to it.
Conversely you’ll see a red arrow pointing down to the right of a particular set if you regressed from the last time performing that exercise. It happens, no judging allowed! 🙂
Data Analytics Fitness Tracking
Being the metrics and data aggregation guy I am in my professional existence, a feature in the app I particularly appreciate is how previous weight lifted is represented via graphs. Below you can see the graphical representation of data for the wide grip lat pulldown exercise over the past six months. IronGAINS provides this data for every exercise I have tracked via the app.
Sneaky Valuable Feature
The final feature I feel compelled to mention is the built in rest timer. When you complete a set and confirm the reps in the app, the built in timer will automatically notify you when your rest period is over. This particular feature is ideal, as it is not uncommon for me to be lost in thought. I get sidetracked mentally, and I’ll hear the notification when it is time to begin the next set. It’s snapped me out of a daze more than a few times.
Fitness Tracking Value
If you’re looking for an app to help track your progress in the gym I recommend considering ironGAINS. I love a good value and believe you get excellent bang for the buck with this product. I shy away from apps that charge you a monthly or annual fee to keep the product current. Probably the strongest selling point for me personally was the one time perpetual license purchase. One may think there is a trade off in that the app is not kept current or it has limited functionality with perpetual licensing. That simply is not the case.
Conclusion
There’s not a high number of reviews in Apple’s App Store, but as of the 200+ reviews that exist today ironGAINS does have a strong 4.6 rating which I feel is an accurate representation. If you’re looking for a solid, well designed, and affordable product to track your workouts I recommend giving ironGAINS a look.
